Oh, rats! Peter Hermann and Mariska Hargitay's relationship hit a roadblock early on thanks to a group of rodents.

In speaking to Page Six, the actor recalled the moment when he and Mariska were dating and he wanted to show her his "tiny" New York City apartment. But, "a mischief of rats" had other ideas.
"When we were dating, I finally got up the courage to show her my apartment," the "Younger" star said. "One night we were walking down 36th Street to my apartment. All of the sudden, there was this sound and it sounded like fingernails on glass. Then we looked down, and all of the sudden, the street was moving and it was a herd of rats."
There were "hundreds and hundreds" of rats pouring into a nearby parking lot. There were so many rats, he said, that the street looked like it was "waving."
"The only thing that I could say to the woman I loved, and whom I would eventually marry, was, 'New York!'" he said. "She was like, 'What is your problem?!' She was terrified. Needless to say, that night I didn't show her my apartment… That was my New York moment."

By comparison, the "Law & Order: SVU" actress had just moved into "beautiful apartment" in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York.
Peter and Mariska would eventually marry in August of 2004. They share three children together.